The distinction between postpaid and prepaid service has become less and less clear. This is particularly true as carriers have gotten rid of old phone service features such as mandatory contracts, subsidized phones and extra charges for going over the monthly data limit (for people that still have one, now that carriers are promoting unlimited data plans). But there are still some significant differences between both types of service — not to mention benefits and drawbacks that you should consider when researching what type of plan to get.

Many phone users typically go with postpaid plans, which can include a payment plan for purchasing or renting out the phone itself. With postpaid plans, bills arrive at the end of the month and show the data usage for that month. Prepaid plans charge a set amount at the beginning of each month for a predetermined amount of minutes, texts and data. They also require you to pay upfront for the phone as well.

There are instances with both postpaid and prepaid services where you could go to a phone manufacturer’s store (such as Apple) to activate your phone, and then switch carriers whenever you want to. However, if you buy or rent directly from the carrier, you typically have to stick with them.

Another definitive difference between postpaid and prepaid plans is that there are usually more benefits with a postpaid plan. Those benefits can include anything from unlimited texting to free streaming through certain apps, additional data at a lower price, a phone selection including the newest phone models), and more.

An imagined difference between a prepaid and postpaid plan that doesn’t exist, though? Certain prepaid carriers have warned about their parent networks addressing the needs of their own customers before everyone else if their network becomes overloaded. But according to Tom’sGuide.com, their testing showed that the network speeds of prepaid subsidiaries performed the same as those of their parent networks.

Many customers are also concerned with the difficulty of the prepaid phone process, including the billing, choosing the number of minutes and data you think you’ll need, and selecting and purchasing the phone itself. For starters, it’s not as if your only options are outdated flip phones from the early 2000s. Yes, the prepaid phones will usually be older models. But there are various types to pick from, and you can usually get better deals on the older models on a prepaid plan compared to a postpaid plan. Plus, you can get your phone set up with minutes and take care of the billing options all in one place. Speaking of which…

Cellular Repair & Exchange is one of those stores that can address all of your prepaid wireless needs. We’re also an authorized metroPCS dealer, making it easy to join over 280 million customers currently using that platform.

For more information about our prepaid cellular options, visit https://www.cellularrepairandexchange.com/prepaid-services/. You can also speak directly with the experts at our Tulsa location by calling 918-551-6550, or call our North Little Rock location at 501-771-5566.